Feature Request: Support for on-premise Exchange Server journaling and archiving (Exchange 2016/2019/2022) #31

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MrUnknownDE · 2026-04-05T16:16:12+02:00

MrUnknownDE commented

2026-04-05 16:16:12 +02:00

Originally created by @laoma2016 on 2/24/2026

Feature Request: Native support for on-premise Microsoft Exchange Server journaling and archiving

Description
Open Archiver is already an excellent open-source tool for archiving cloud-based email environments (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 via Graph/OAuth, generic IMAP).

Many organizations (especially mid-sized enterprises, government, education, and regulated industries) still run on-premise Exchange Server (2016, 2019, or 2022). These environments cannot use the Microsoft 365 / Graph API connector.

A very common and compliant way to capture all email traffic in such setups is through Exchange Journaling (Standard or Premium journaling rules), which sends a copy of every sent/received/internal message to a dedicated journal mailbox (or external SMTP recipient).

Currently, there is no native way in Open Archiver to:

Directly ingest from an on-prem Exchange journal mailbox via a dedicated protocol/connector.
Accept SMTP-based journaling (e.g., act as an SMTP journaling target).
Provide better integration with on-prem Exchange beyond basic IMAP per-user polling (which is inefficient, doesn't capture all metadata reliably, and misses BCC/envelope journaling info).

Proposed solutions / nice-to-have priority order

High priority – SMTP Journaling Receiver
Allow Open Archiver to listen on an SMTP port (e.g., 25/465/587) as a journaling target.
- Accept messages delivered via Exchange Send Connector + Journaling rule.
- Parse the journal envelope (RFC 822 + custom headers) to preserve original To/CC/BCC, sender IP, etc.
- Store/index the original MIME message + envelope metadata.
  This is the cleanest, most performant, and compliance-friendly way for on-prem Exchange.
Medium priority – Dedicated Exchange Journal Mailbox Connector
- Use IMAP or EWS (Exchange Web Services) to poll a dedicated journal mailbox.
- Automatically detect/parse journal report format (EnvelopeJournal / ReportJournal).
- Extract and index original messages with full headers/metadata.
Lower priority (but still useful) – Enhanced on-prem Exchange support
- Better handling of on-prem EWS (with NTLM/Basic auth or Kerberos) for direct mailbox archiving (similar to how some tools support on-prem EWS).
- Bulk PST import enhancements (already supported, but add auto-processing of exported journal PSTs via New-MailboxExportRequest).

Why this matters

On-prem Exchange is still widely used in environments that require strict data sovereignty or cannot move to cloud yet.
Journaling is a standard compliance method (GDPR, HIPAA, FINRA, SOX, etc.) for immutable email capture.
Without this, users must fall back to inefficient per-user IMAP sync or external tools (Barracuda, MailArchiva, etc.), which defeats the purpose of using an open-source alternative.

Environment examples where this would help

Exchange Server 2019 CU14+ with journaling enabled to a local mailbox.
Hybrid setups where some users are still on-prem.
Air-gapped or high-security networks without cloud connectivity.

Additional context
No similar issue appears to exist yet (based on a quick search of the issues).
I'm happy to help test, provide sample journaled messages, or discuss implementation details if the team is interested.

Thanks for building and maintaining this great project — it's one of the few modern, truly open email archiving solutions out there!

Would love to hear your thoughts or any roadmap hints.

*Originally created by @laoma2016 on 2/24/2026* ### Feature Request: Native support for on-premise Microsoft Exchange Server journaling and archiving **Description** Open Archiver is already an excellent open-source tool for archiving cloud-based email environments (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 via Graph/OAuth, generic IMAP). Many organizations (especially mid-sized enterprises, government, education, and regulated industries) still run **on-premise Exchange Server** (2016, 2019, or 2022). These environments cannot use the Microsoft 365 / Graph API connector. A very common and compliant way to capture all email traffic in such setups is through **Exchange Journaling** (Standard or Premium journaling rules), which sends a copy of every sent/received/internal message to a dedicated journal mailbox (or external SMTP recipient). Currently, there is no native way in Open Archiver to: - Directly ingest from an on-prem Exchange journal mailbox via a dedicated protocol/connector. - Accept SMTP-based journaling (e.g., act as an SMTP journaling target). - Provide better integration with on-prem Exchange beyond basic IMAP per-user polling (which is inefficient, doesn't capture all metadata reliably, and misses BCC/envelope journaling info). **Proposed solutions / nice-to-have priority order** 1. **High priority – SMTP Journaling Receiver** Allow Open Archiver to listen on an SMTP port (e.g., 25/465/587) as a journaling target. - Accept messages delivered via Exchange Send Connector + Journaling rule. - Parse the journal envelope (RFC 822 + custom headers) to preserve original To/CC/BCC, sender IP, etc. - Store/index the original MIME message + envelope metadata. This is the cleanest, most performant, and compliance-friendly way for on-prem Exchange. 2. **Medium priority – Dedicated Exchange Journal Mailbox Connector** - Use IMAP or EWS (Exchange Web Services) to poll a dedicated journal mailbox. - Automatically detect/parse journal report format (EnvelopeJournal / ReportJournal). - Extract and index original messages with full headers/metadata. 3. **Lower priority (but still useful) – Enhanced on-prem Exchange support** - Better handling of on-prem EWS (with NTLM/Basic auth or Kerberos) for direct mailbox archiving (similar to how some tools support on-prem EWS). - Bulk PST import enhancements (already supported, but add auto-processing of exported journal PSTs via New-MailboxExportRequest). **Why this matters** - On-prem Exchange is still widely used in environments that require strict data sovereignty or cannot move to cloud yet. - Journaling is a standard compliance method (GDPR, HIPAA, FINRA, SOX, etc.) for immutable email capture. - Without this, users must fall back to inefficient per-user IMAP sync or external tools (Barracuda, MailArchiva, etc.), which defeats the purpose of using an open-source alternative. **Environment examples where this would help** - Exchange Server 2019 CU14+ with journaling enabled to a local mailbox. - Hybrid setups where some users are still on-prem. - Air-gapped or high-security networks without cloud connectivity. **Additional context** No similar issue appears to exist yet (based on a quick search of the issues). I'm happy to help test, provide sample journaled messages, or discuss implementation details if the team is interested. Thanks for building and maintaining this great project — it's one of the few modern, truly open email archiving solutions out there! Would love to hear your thoughts or any roadmap hints.

MrUnknownDE added the enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement labels 2026-04-05 16:16:13 +02:00

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Reference: github/OpenArchiver#31